Optimistic
by XxBreakingAlicexX
Summary: Eren Jaeger has just lost his parents and has been sent to the other side of the country for his own safety. Mikasa was the one who'd always protected him like a big sister and constantly kept him out of trouble. Now she's out of reach and he's stuck in the worst kind of trouble with a short man named Levi.
1. Chapter 1- Greetings

Chapter 1

When Eren was told this wouldn't be easy he never actually understood just how right they were. The amount of papers he had to fill out were endless. To add on to the irritating amount, almost all of them required a parent/guardian signature. All had been marked out by the principle of his new high school, Mr. Michaelis, who was fully aware of the situation at hand.

It'd been three hours since Eren had sat down in the office and began scribbling out all the information for enrolling, discussing his schedule, and receiving a map of the school. Now, things were wrapping up and they were about to go on a tour of the classes.

"I am terribly sorry you are dealing with all of this at your age. Honestly, I believe they should have given you a few days to settle into your home first. Education is important, but everyone deserves a little break." The principle offered his sympathy and tried to make Eren feel a bit more comfortable in the unfamiliar environment. It didn't help one bit, but he mustered the best smile he could show.

"It's alright. Focusing on my studies is more important than giving me time to adapt to the changes. But thank you," Eren told him with a light hearted tone in his voice. Mr. Michaelis seemed slightly surprised and glanced at him for a moment with respect, but concern still creased around his eyes. With a nod, they left his office and began to walk down the lightly lit hallways.

Everything was either white or blue, and quotes were written along the walls above the lockers. As they passed each classroom door another quote would be written in a different style. The first normal, the second cursive, the third in a comic book style, and so on. Eren buried his head in his schedule for a moment to see what room number his first class was.

_ Room 207, Mr. Sutcliff, French 1._

Eren tried not to groan aloud from realizing they were going to make him repeat French. Apparently his last school hadn't transferred his recent transcripts yet. There was no doubt they wouldn't change his schedule now. It was too late.

Mr. Michaelis knocked on the door and immediately there was a deep feminine voice heard calling out '_One moment_' through the door. Eren raised one eyebrow but when the door opened, he scrunched his eyebrows together without meaning to stare.

"Well helloooo Michaelis darling. Did you miss m- Oh hi, this is the new student we were expecting, correct?" Eren's first impression of Mr. Sutcliff: he was a tranny with long red hair and a good sense of fashion. As well as slightly creepy.

"Yes it is and he is only coming by to introduce himself for today. His full day will be tomorrow, in case you have not read my email yet," Mr. Michaelis ignored the teacher's odd greeting and giggles, which made Eren assume that this was a normal thing. He continued, "Will you be alright from here on out, Eren? I need to get back to my office for a meeting." As soon as Eren bobbed his head and thanked him, the principal sauntered away and the teacher motioned for Eren to go inside the class room.

Each step forward seemed like 10 boulders were being stacked on top of his legs. People normally didn't like to hang around Eren because of how blunt he could be; so making friends was not his forte. Immediately, he felt unwelcome. No one bothered to look up from their phones, work, and gossiping conversations to see the new kid. That is until Mr. Sutcliff told everyone to be quiet with a shit eating grin on his face. All went dead silent and everyone's eyes bored into Eren with disinterest.

"Everybody, this is Eren Jaeger. He will be joining us so let's make him feel welcome, alright?" The teacher seemed nice enough.

It was too late to try and feel welcome, however.

There were a few grumbles of "sure" and "okay" before they went back to their activities. That's when he made eye contact with a dorky looking guy and a pair of wide blue eyes. The blonde flashed Eren a shy smile before looking back down at his work.

"Well, I suppose for today I can just give you the work we're doing right now and Armin over here can get you caught up tomorrow," Mr. Sutcliff adjusted his glasses and gave a vague wave to the right side of the room. From the way his eyes snapped up, the blonde guy must be Armin, Eren concluded.

"That'd be great. But I don't think I'll need any help, sir. I'm well on my own," Eren responded and paused for a moment before continuing, "If it's alright, can I come by after I visit my other classes to pick up my work?"

The instructor nodded his head and shooed him off with a flick of his hand. "Yes yes it's fine. You need to get going to your other classes or you'll end up being here for a full day. And Bassy wouldn't be too happy if he found out I kept you in here for a full class period." Ignoring that last part, Eren ducked out of the class room when he saw a kid with brown and blonde hair wadding up a paper ball. He knew what was about to go down. Typical horse play. The door clicked shut right when the chaos began and he walked away as if nothing happened.

While quickly scanning the rest of his schedule, there was a name that popped out. It seemed to tickle Eren's memory but he couldn't quite place the name with a face.

_ Room 110, Mr. Smith, History_... Nothing rang a bell. Instead of stressing over remembering the name, he checked out his next class and was on his way to English.

For the rest of the next hour or so, Eren met all his classmates and spoke a few words to the instructors just to be friendly. He sure wasn't a kiss up, but it was almost always a good thing to be on a teacher's good side. His last class had finally come after visiting 4 others that were full of loud obnoxious teenagers. He stared at the door for a moment and noted that the teacher must like to decorate since all the presidents and a ton of old war photos were plastered all over it. Except one spot was uncovered. He looked closer before realizing a small penis had been carved into the wood.

Eren snorted and thought amusedly to himself, '_Whoever drew it must've traced their own.'_

The door flew open almost whacking him in the face. A short man looked up at him through a few black strands of hair dangling over his forehead.

"Oh. You must be the new kid," the man paused mid-stride before continuing to take another step forward, "I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to stand behind a door. My apologies, brat."

Eren's eyes narrowed at the asshole walking away and muttered beneath lhis breath, "I'm not a brat, short shit." This time when the door flung open again, barely grazing the tips of his brown messy hair, he blurted out, "And I'm not stupid."

A very tall, well-built man stood in the doorway looking down at him quizzically. "I most certainly don't think you are," he chuckled with realization in his eyes. With a quick glance down the hallway at the short man's figure disappearing behind another hallway, the man in front of Eren waved his hand as if he was trying to rid the smell of a fart. "Don't mind him, he's just moody. He runs all of my errands for me. Oh and I'm Mr. Smith." Eren shook hands with him, almost intimidated by how his hand was twice as small as Mr. Smith's.

"I'm Eren, sir. And not to be rude, but I have to be somewhere in an hour. So would it be okay if I came in to get my work and left?" He was tired of the meet and greets.

The teacher nodded his head and lead him inside. Unlike the other classrooms, this class was dead silent and all were working on a worksheet. Some kids even had headphones in. This was most definitely going to be his favorite class.

Mr. Smith spoke up to get everyone's attention. "Hey guys, this is Eren. Make friends with him tomorrow." Eren couldn't keep himself from scanning the people in the room. The two kids from his first class were in here- Armin and the kid with the blonde and brown hair- and there was another girl, Sasha, from his third class. Everyone else was new.

_They must be lower classmen,_ Eren thought to himself.

Within a blink of an eye, there was a tiny stack of papers held out to him. He added it on to the rest of the mountain of homework and tipped his head as thanks. He couldn't waste anymore time.

Trying not to get caught while sprinting down the halls, he hurried to his first class to pick up the work he'd left behind and booked it out of the school parking lot. Running with a stack of papers turned out to be quite a feat when it was windy and sprinkling rain drops into your eyes. Then it hit him- he hadn't had the chance to move in all of the boxes of laundry, dishes, decoratives, etc. They were going to be soaked if he left them outside... The walk to his house was only five minutes or less. He could make it there, have time to get ready, and be at the coffee shop on time. It was no use to even bother trying to carry in all of the boxes and still attempt to make it to the shop on time. He'd have to deal with that later.

That is until he got to his house and all his stuff was gone. Staring at disbelief at the yard, he slapped a hand to his face and groaned.

Eren rolled his eyes and asked no one in particular, "Can I not get a fucking break?" With a long frustrated sigh, he trudged to his front porch. As a habit, he wiggled the door knob first and it was open.

_Shit_.

He shoved the door open waiting for a burglar to jump out and tackle him. Instead of a robber, however, he found something even more surprising waiting for him.

¬-¬ andsowebegin.


	2. Chapter 2- Friends

~Friends~

To Eren's shock, he found all of the boxes neatly folded in a stack beside his couch. Everything had been taken out, dusted, polished, you name it. Eren scrunched his face up in utter confusion.

_This must not be an ordinary robber... Maybe he's toying with me to make me feel at home and comfortable and then when I'm least expecting-_

Eren yelped and ducked away from a sudden tap on his shoulder. He twisted back around quickly and stood in a martial arts pose ready to fight. A familiar set of narrow blueish gray eyes that could intimidate even a king looked up into his own brown ones.

"You should learn to keep things clean. Otherwise we'll have problems and possibly have some cleaning lessons. Understood, Jaeger?" the short man from earlier demanded. Eren crossed his arms over his chest clearly annoyed already. He'd just moved in. What else was to be expected? Plus, this wasn't that guy's home anyways; he just entered without consent.

"You should learn to keep your hands off things that don't belong to you, sir. Wait, how do you know my name?" Eren began to take a step forward to intimidate the man, but with a quick inspection at his upper body, even through his shirt, it was clear that this guy had some serious strength. They both stood stock still, Eren glaring down and the man staring up at him with a nonchalant expression.

"My name isn't sir. I'm not your superior and I'm not that old."

"Well how am I supposed to know your name or age? You look thirteen but act like a grouchy ass old man."

Levi finally showed some reaction by shooting him a glare that made him recoil. He began to take a step forward and raised a duster in his hand that seemed to come out of no where. However, to Eren's relief, he stopped and slowly lowered the feathery stick.

"Watch your mouth, Jaeger. You don't need to know anything about me. That clear? Just call me Levi. As for knowing your name, Mr. Smith has talked about you a couple of times. That's all." The mention of Mr. Smith stirred up his thought process. Why would his teacher mention things about his students to 'just someone who runs his errands'? Confusion was clearly slapped all over his face while he slightly shook his head.

"What else did he say about me?" Eren inquired.

Levi started to turn away, aiming for the door. "None of your business. Now go enjoy the clean atmosphere. You're welcome. Oh and you're about to be late for your interview, kid." Within a second, he tossed the duster onto the couch and was out the front door, leaving Eren alone to process the past 20 minutes. He didn't have long to think about it, though. His interview was in half an hour.

Throughout the house, everything was spotless and decorated nicely. Levi certainly knew how to organize. Even the clothes had been stowed away according to color. A light warmth rose in his cheeks when he realized even his underwear was folded. He snatched a nice shirt and some dress pants and quickly changed while in thought.

_Was this one of Mr. Smith's "errands" he had Levi do? Unlikely. Why would my teacher ask some guy to tidy up my house? Then again, what other reason would he have for going to all that work?_

Eren cleared his mind, leaving his memory of today inside his home. He'd have to jog, but he'd most definitely make it. This was his only chance at having a way to pay the bills. When he was moved here, a social worker had told Eren she'd pay the bill for the house and would send money maybe once a month for food and clothing. It was still a mystery to Eren why they took his sister Mikasa away to another location.

When he reached the café, he plastered a smile on his face and wished himself luck.

Later at his home, Eren dropped his body onto the couch with a bowl of soup in front of him. It was a relief the social worker was smart enough to fill the fridge and cabinets with nonperishables. He'd have to buy drinks as soon as possible though.

The interview went perfectly, and the manager even told him he could start work that next day. Everything was going more than great, but Eren couldn't help feel like there was a part of him missing. Maybe it was the death of his parents. Or being so far away from Mikasa for the first time. It gnawed at the back of Eren's mind while he watched a show about a demon butler and his 'young master'. It made him laugh a few times and he couldn't help but think about how attractive Sebastian was for someone who wasn't real... And was a guy. He didn't understand why he thought another guy was attractive. Dude on dude wasn't even appealing to him.

Then again, he'd never really dated anyone. He'd only had a couple friends at his old school and both were girls. He had no experience with either gender to fall back on.

Eren raked his fingers through his hair and violently shoved a spoonful of scorching hot creamy chicken soup into his mouth.

_ Nope. Nopenopenopenope. I'm just over thinking it. Nothing more._

For the rest of the night, he watched a various amount of Disney movies, got caught up on all of his school work, and occasionally watched an amusing cat video on YouTube. It was getting harder to stay awake. Especially while listening to 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin. He flicked the television off and pulled himself up the stairs to his bedroom. Instead of bothering to turn off the lights or get into his pajamas or bury himself under the covers, he flopped down and slowly, almost thankfully, lost consciousness.

Today hadn't been that bad. It'd been somewhat shitty due to the Levi situation but, at least, not as horrible as he thought it'd be. And yet, deep down, he was already dreading tomorrow.

The next morning when he'd woken up, he'd forgotten where he was. He had to look around the room for clues. It had a simple look- navy blue walls, wooden dressers, sunshine that shone through white curtains, and a white lamp that sat on a wooden side table. It all reformed in his memory that this was his new home. And that this room was his. And also, this was the only one he'd arranged. Every other decorated room was Levi's doing. The thought of it sent shivers down Eren's spine like he was still there with him. He strangely didn't mind the feeling. He didn't want to feel alone. He didn't want to _be_ alone. But he was.

Eren had to drag himself around the house to get ready. He wasn't ready for anything today. The dark bags under his eyes spoke for themselves.

The first black shirt and sweatpants in sight was what he slipped his body into. It wasn't like there was anybody he was trying to impress. Not his teachers, not the principal, and not his peers. '_And most certainly not Levi.._.,' a little voice added tauntingly. Eren squashed the thought like a roach. He didn't want to cross paths with him today. Or any other day, matter of fact.

He found the man admirable on some level with his independent attitude, but he was a straight up asshat that didn't even know how to carry on a friendly conversation. Then again, Eren couldn't say much. He wasn't exactly all that good at carrying on a decent conversation either. At least he thought, sometimes, before he spoke. That guy had no filter.

The walk to school felt all too short. He took his seat in the back of the classroom, not wanting any attention drawn to himself. There were five minutes until the final bell.

"Um, Eren?" a voice, barely audible, said. He tilted his head up to see Armin bent over, his face awkwardly close to his own. Eren flushed, feeling an annoying warmth crawl up his neck. He quickly lent back and coughed.

"That's me. Can I help you?" He hoped his voice sounded unwavering, but at that moment, he was too conflicted to give it much thought.

_ What the fuck? He has a dick, Eren. Get a grip on your hormones. _

The blonde just blinked for a moment not responding. When he realized he was staring, he cleared his throat and started to speak, but was cut off by the boy with blonde and brown hair.

"Awwe look at these two love birds. The ship has sailed, my fellow classmates," his voice raised above everyone's chatter. All of the kids in the room twisted their heads around like owls to look at the pair. A few kids snickered and some grinned whispering, "I knew it'd happen!" Eren and Armin glanced at each other with wide eyes. Armin's face lit up bright red as he tried to explain himself to them.

"N-no! Its not like that! I was just making sure he's caught up...," his voice dwindled lower and lower as he realized no one was listening to him. The bell rang and he sighed looking back down at Eren. "I'm sorry. Because I like guys, they like to pick on me by pairing me with any male that comes within five feet of me... I'll leave you alone. I hope you like the class." Just as he hung his head and turned around to go, Eren grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Wait a minute," Armin's head snapped back to look at him, his eyes still wide. It was barely noticeable but Eren could see his jaw tensed up; he was holding back tears.

_Damn your waterworks. This kid better thank me for this..._

All eyes were on them as Eren stood up. He threw his arms in the air and said just as loudly as the douche who started the mess, "Oh why the fuck not?" It was dead silent at this point. He rested his hands on the boy's shoulders and lent forward pressing his lips against his cheek. Standing back up straight, he crossed his arms across his chest. "Are you all satisfied? Now fuck off." To his horror, though, he realized 50% of the class had their phones out taking pictures. He held back a groan and just sat back in his seat frustrated.

"Well, well, well Mr. Jaeger. I certainly hadn't pegged you as the type of guy to make a move on someone on your first day," Mr. Sutcliff winked as he straightened up a few papers on his desk. Everyone shuffled to their seats and Armin practically ran back to his. Instead of coming up with a retort, Eren simply huffed, narrowing his gaze on his binder as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Alright, let's get started, my darlings. Go grab a book and turn to page 370."

Before Eren could make a move to get up, Armin had grabbed one for them both. They both mumbled 'thank you' and gave a small smile to each other.

_ I don't know how, but I think I just made a friend._

Two stressful classes later, he had turned in all his missing work and was caught up. He didn't speak to anyone after his first class, but it was clear everyone knew about Armin and him. He just had lunch to deal with and one more class to go before he could finally leave. Lunch couldn't be that hard to survive.

But it turned out, it was. After Eren's little performance, he was apparently the talk of the school. People were talking about how amazing it was "having the balls to do that in front of the class." Attention was far from what he'd wanted, but he'd walked straight into it. He hoped to a higher power that this all would roll over by tomorrow.

After he exited the lunch line, several people at different tables all waved him over, yelling for him to sit with them. He scanned the cafeteria looking for a certain blonde. His gaze was so tuned in on the tables farther away, he almost didn't notice the man standing right in front of him. The yelling died down and settled to a medium chatter. Levi spoke first.

"Jaeger."

"Levi."

"Brat."

"Kleine Scheißer." Levi narrowed his eyes accepting the challenge.

"Tu es completement débile."

"Küss mein arsch."

"Okay. As long as it's not filthy."

"Fi- wait, what?"

"What?" Levi had no expression on his face, but Eren could see he was holding back a smirk. His eyebrows scrunched up and he backed away to go find Armin.

"U-um, nothing. Jus- nothing," he stammered as a stupid familiar warmth found its way across his neck.

Out of no where, an arm looped around his and dragged him away from the asshole. Facing forward, he could still feel Levi's eyes bore into his back. Then he recognized the boy towing him in the direction of a table where four kids were already sitting. It seemed they were saving each other's asses today.

"He doesn't normally talk, but don't let him bother you. He can be a real prick when he does decide to socialize with us," a guy with a shaved head and goldish green eyes said to Eren. "I'm Connie by the way," he threw up a little wave, "This is Sasha, my girlfriend," he pointed to the girl that was in his third class, "That's Marco," a guy with black hair and freckles smiled tipping his head, "Krista is probably off table hopping. She loves talking to everyone. And this is Annie, Krista's girlfriend." A girl with blonde hair that was pulled back into a pony tail sipped a carton of juice and shifted her attention to Eren for a split second before looking away, disinterested.

Armin pouted, "You forgot about me." Connie rolled his eyes and smirked.

"We already know you two know each other. We saw it all this morning," he snickered. Armin's face turned light pink and Eren choked on his milk. A little bit came out of his nose while he thumped his palm on the table. Thrown into a fit of coughing, he crossed his arms on the table and buried his face in them. All five of them laughed- even Annie was trying to hide a smile behind her piece of bread. Armin explained the one who'd started the whole ordeal was named Jean, and Eren asked them if he'd been birthed by a horse. Marco choked on his milk this time and everyone went back to rolling with laughter.

Eren couldn't help but feel a little happier around these guys. Maybe things could get better. He smiled despite the embarrassment of this morning and joked about it with them even. At the end of lunch, he'd made a total of five friends. Krista had never showed up, but she'd texted Annie saying she had to go to the office for an award or something. He couldn't wait to meet her, in fact. He was almost confident that she wouldn't mind being friends.

As they all departed to go to their classrooms, Eren waved Armin and Sasha on ahead, admitting he'd had to piss all day. They laughed and went on their merry way as he B-lined it for the boy's bathroom. On his way, he saw a flicker of Levi's face in the crowd, but when he turned around he was no where in sight. It was more than a relief when he made it to the restroom.

However, just as he entered, he felt a force collide with the side of his jaw.


End file.
